This invention relates to information processing and in particular to the use of distributed processing power by users of mobile communications terminals.
Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) is a concept which introduces general purpose processing and cloud-computing capabilities into mobile base stations so as to be in close proximity to the mobile subscribers which are to use those capabilities. These capabilities can provide application developers and content providers with a service environment with very low latency and high-bandwidth. It also offers direct access to real-time radio network information (such as subscriber location, cell load, etc.) that can be used by applications and services to provide context-related services to differentiate the mobile broadband experience. United States Patent Application US2013/265868 describes how the services can be provided by hosting edge applications which process data generated in the base stations.
A new standardisation group within ETSI has been set up to create a standardised, open environment which will allow the efficient integration of generic applications from vendors, service providers, and third-parties across multi-vendor MEC platforms and allow for the rapid transfer of applications (which may occur on the fly) between MEC servers, providing the freedom to optimize, without constraints, the location and required resources of the virtual appliances. This will allow applications to be readily rolled out to multiple servers.
Moving applications and content to the edge of the Mobile Network has a number of advantages for both operators and end users. These include improvements in mobile users' Quality of Experience, by reducing latency, improving quality of service and providing customised services. It can also improve the efficiency of the infrastructure's efficiency, with more intelligent and optimised networks, and reduce the volume of traffic to the core network.
However, it would be a major task to ensure that all possible virtual appliances are permanently available on all servers. Not only would this require extensive memory capacity to be available, but the communications overhead to maintain all applications up to date on all servers would be significant. In particular, some applications will see little use because they are of a very specialised nature, or because there are other applications which perform similar functions and are more popular. There will be other applications whose use may be sporadic, or seasonal, or geographically localised, for which data storage and communications overhead for updating at all local nodes throughout the network may not be justified.
United States Patent application US2014/022985 resolves this by redirecting service requests to cells already hosting the required applications. However, such an arrangement can result in delays in processing as data and results need to be exchanged between cells. United States Patent application US2008/141244 presents another system, in which a user device initiates the downloading of an application on its serving cell when it requires the application to be run. However, this can result in a delay in running the application as the base station then has to retrieve and install the application required by the user.
The present invention involves the dynamic instantiation of a set of applications on a per user basis.
According to the invention, there is provided a method of connecting mobile terminals to a mobile communications network through an interface server, the interface server being capable of installing computing applications for co-operation with mobile terminals attached to the interface server, wherein the server interrogates a database to identify computing applications that attached terminals require to operate and, if the server does not already have the required computing applications installed, downloads programme information from a programme store to allow the required capability to be installed.
Preferably, information about a user's subscription to a particular set of services is held on a central database and is queried by the interface server when attachment takes place. It may instead be stored as a user profile on the terminal itself, to be queried by the interface server when first attached to a given base station.
When a subscriber initially subscribes to a service, the subscription service transmits the information into the central database as to which users have subscribed to that particular service.
The invention enables a Mobile Network Operator to dynamically install a set of applications, at the edge of the network, upon attachment or service requests from a particular subscriber. The key advantage is that usage of computing resources deployed at the edge of the networks can be optimised by only deploying applications that are likely to be used by subscribers attached to a particular cell or group of cells, rather than applications being permanently installed unnecessarily when unlikely to be used. The dynamic installation of applications in a server only when required by a terminal connecting to the server also reduces the communications overhead.
The method can include an interaction with the programme store when a terminal requires an application already stored by the server to determine whether a version stored by the server is current and, if it is not, downloading the latest version from the programme store to replace it. To economise on memory, applications may be deleted from the server if they have not been used for a predetermined period: the criteria for deletion will depend on the balance between the costs of storage, the cost of communications to download the application should it be required again, and the likelihood that the stored version is still current.
The invention also extends to an interface server for connecting mobile terminals to a mobile communications network, the interface server having an application platform capable of supporting computing applications for co-operation with mobile terminals operationally attached to the interface server, and having an application deployment management system having means for interrogating a database to identify computing applications that attached terminals require the platform to support, an application platform interface for interacting with the application platform to identify applications installed on the platform, and an accession interface to download application programme information from a programme store to install the required capability on the platform if it is not already present.
The steps in the process are indicated by three-digit numbers, and physical or functional elements by one and two digit numbers.